The Social Democratic and Labour Party had already selected Austin Currie as prospective candidate for the seat before a by-election was in prospect.[6] When Sands' candidacy was announced the party came under pressure to withdraw in his favour, as putative candidates Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey and Noel Maguire had done, although initially it was said that the mainstream of the party was resistant.[7] On the last day for nominations the party executive decided not to stand, explaining that they wished to concentrate on local government elections which would take place in May; there was speculation that the executive did not share the local party's confidence and feared a poor result.[8] The SDLP decision not to stand in the by-election caused a great deal of dissent within the party.[6]

No other candidates contested the seat, making it one of the last occasions when a Westminster constituency had only two candidates. Currie railed against the SDLP's decision not to stand, but the result was a highly polarised contest between unionism and Irish republicanism.